"All along the way, I, the LORD your God, have blessed your every effort. I have been attentive to your travels through this great wasteland. These forty years I have been with you; you have lacked for nothing.’" Deut. 2:7 (NET)
Sometimes, Bong and I felt like this journey of trying to have a child was somewhat like that of the Israelites wandering round and round the wilderness, sometimes losing sight of the Promised Land when we were faced with walls of Jericho, but the Lord has put His Words on our path as I have been working on the book of Deuteronomy, He has this passage to assure me, like He did the Israelites that He is there every step of the way.
We would like to introduce to you our precious little ‘giant’ Xam. You have been praying for him and his mother for nine months now and we would like to officially announce that the Lord has answered our prayers and Xam was born via c-section last Friday, July 29th, 2011.
As many of you know, I (Margie) dreaded any wound as healing does not come very easy for a diabetic like me, so much so that I really begged my doctor to let me try what she calls a ‘trial labor.’ I have every intention of giving birth the normal spontaneous way that is why I have waited even a week after my expected date of delivery for natural labor to occur and the Lord did grant my wish, when by early Thursday, I started feeling that ‘fault-of-Eve’ pain that comes with childbirth. I called my doctor and she said true labor will probably come 24 hours later so she advised me to stay active and positive. By 4am Friday, the contractions were getting longer and closer together so after doing some walking around our compound, we decided to head to the hospital. I was admitted and examined right after we arrived at around 7AM and was wheeled to the labor room to be monitored properly. I was hooked to a non-stress test monitor, and also to an IV line and the necessary normal delivery preparations were carried out.
There were at least 20 pregnant women who came and went through the labor room that day but at 8pm, I was the only one left. My labor pains were intense for hours but for some reason my baby’s head won’t come down and my dilation got stuck at 5cm. I decided to ask for an epidural to manage the pain and was going to get it but my doctor examined me again and felt that my pelvic bones did not budge at all in all the hours that passed. She told me I need a c-section right away because prolonging the labor is causing distress to my baby and that I won’t be able to give birth normally anyway because she suspects a contracted pelvis not to mention that my son has gotten really big because of the extra sugar he had to deal with. Upon further evaluation, the condition was confirmed and I was told that contracted pelvis is common to people with skeletal defects and I do have a spinal condition called scoliosis which most likely contributed to if not caused it.
My doctor went out to inform Bong about her suggestion and after a few minutes they came back together, and the doctor and Bong prayed over me and the flurry of activities prepping me for the procedure started. Meanwhile the labor pain that seems to be getting me in and out of consciousness continued. After like forever, my doctor came back to tell me that she cannot find an anesthesiologist and my condition is getting desperate as the baby is getting more stressed out. She called every colleague she knew and no one is responding. But she had someone at the hospital call the hospital in the next province Ifugao, and thankfully, the hospital in Lagawe was able to send one of their anesthesiologists, and she arrived an hour or two later. The Lord has held Xami inside for 9 months so I knew He is able to keep him for a few more hours of waiting for the medical team to assemble themselves. There was nothing I could do on that table but to leave it all up to my God and He did not fail me.
I learned later that my son was born at 10:35PM and I woke up at the recovery room at 1:30AM where I met my precious little Xami for the first time, when he was brought in to nurse as he was already waking up the whole charity ward with his crying. Praise God that Xami did not have to spend any time in the NICU because his blood sugar levels did not crash to abnormal levels as could be expected of babies by diabetic mothers. He was subjected to a lot of needles for blood glucose monitoring since the first hour of his birth but that was all. He did not need any aggressive medical intervention. His parents are really really thankful for this.
As many of you know, I am medically 90% infertile due to my other medical conditions but for seven years we have kept the faith that the Lord will grant the desire of our hearts in His own time, and He did! He has given Bong and me this precious gift and you have been part of this gift because you have faithfully upheld us in your prayers. We couldn’t have made it without the support we have been generously given by you, our family, colleagues, mentors and friends—all of you, our family in the love of God.
Our heartfelt gratitude goes to you and may the Lord bless you richly for sharing your love with us.
Some were asking what his full name is. His full name is Raymie Xamyrrh (pronounced SUMMER). The Ray is from his dad's name and the 'mie' from mine. Most of you know that I prepared a girl's name which was Xamyrrh Dawn and have been calling the child in my womb Xami eversince (Bong calls him Xam). But at 7 months, ultrasound revealed that the Lord gave us a boy but Bong doesn't want to drop the 'summer' and 'myrrh' idea in the name anymore, as well as the 'sammy' sound in the nickname, short for Samuel--God's answer to Hannah's petition... that is why we kept 'Xamyrrh' even if Xami's a boy.
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